The commercial availability of more efficient, reliable and and cost effective computer systems and communication networks has enabled businesses and individuals to rely on the same, and related peripheral devices, to meet their information and processing needs.
The immeasurable gains in technology experienced by the computer and communication industries have enabled these computers and communication devices to be standardly equipped with interchangeable and replaceable parts and devices. Interchangeability is typically facilitated through expansion slots, couplable interfaces or the like.
Conventional network communications employ various communications protocols that enable cooperative communication at each networked computer system. Standards bodies, such as the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (“IEEE”), establish standardized communication protocols to facilitate communication over such communication networks. Since standardized protocols maintain different communication platforms, equipment manufacturers must provide support for connection using many, and theoretically all, communications protocols.
A problem arises however when an equipment manufacturer develops and distributes large quantities of non-standardized communication products and devices into a substantially standardized components market. There exists in such a scenario a need to facilitate compatibility with this established communications and processing base, and thus to enable the operating modes of communication devices to be extendable to both industry-compliant and custom modes to achieve increased connectivity and compatibility than would otherwise be possible.